A Fall from Grace

This is a great writer. His stories are always unique and enjoyable reading, no matter what your favorite subjects.

Barnard scores again with his depiction of human folly leading to murder. Charlie Peace and his wife are in a small English village where they have been pressed into bringing the self-absorbed pater who they wisely move into a nearby house rather than with them. As they wend their way into village life and its locals they find some rather unsettling characters whose motives and behavior are not easily determined. Ultimate motive for the crime (if it is a crime) is a bit facile, and the reward or punishment for selfishness, or for selflessness is ambiguous at the end. Don't know who fell from grace but this is still a good and entertaining read with very appealing main characters.

This is the thirty-ninth entry for prolific British crime novelist Robert Barnard. In this outing his protagonist is Inspector Charlie Peace. In most of his books he has avoided a series detective, but he has used Charlie and his wife Felicity before. The wife's father is a real ogre, a writer who exploits everyone around him. Now he wants to buy Felicity a house and move in with them. Instead they buy a bungalow near them for him. A gang of kids, privileged because they are in the drama stream of the local school, are terrorizing newcomers to the village. Their leader, Anne, is a loathsome bit of work, vicious and felonious. Barnard, perhaps with a touch of misanthropy and cynicism, is particularly good at delineating nasty characters. He's great at presenting British village life; his pub scenes are fun; and he creates vivid characters. This is not one of his best efforts, but as usual it is fast-paced, witty, and an easy read. You won't get bogged down in a Barnard novel. The ending is slightly disappointing. For me, his best book to date has been "A Scandal in Belgravia."

Robert Barnard's "A Fall from Grace" is a stylish and subtle psychological murder mystery with several clever twists and turns and an ending that will catch most readers by surprise. Detective Inspector Charlie Peace and his pregnant wife, Felicity, are more than a little chagrined when Felicity's father, writer Rupert Coggenhoe, announces that he is moving to their Yorkshire village, Slepton Edge. Felicity makes no secret of the fact that she dislikes her "self-obsessed, manipulative, and unfeeling" father intensely and she would prefer that he stay away from her and her four-year-old daughter, Carola. However, since he is offering to partially finance a new house for Felicity's growing family, the Peaces can scarcely turn Rupert down. They purchase a new house for themselves and a nearby bungalow for Rupert. Rupert settles in and becomes a minor celebrity, but all is not peaceful in Slepton Edge. A sadistic, clever, and worldly fifteen-year old named Anne Michaels has become the village instigator and she is stirring up all kinds of trouble. First, she induces a younger group of children to chant threateningly outside the homes of newcomers; later, she curries favor with Rupert and insinuates herself into his life, with unforeseen and horrifying consequences. "A Fall from Grace" is a breath of fresh air, since it deviates from the formulaic fiction that is churned out by lesser writers. Barnard's characters are original and intriguing: Desmond Pinkhurst is a sardonic actor who was known for lightweight roles in his youth. He is now both exhilarated and terrified, since he is about to make his comeback in Ibsen's "The Wild Duck." Dr. Chris Carlson is a warm and sympathetic physician and artist, who has given up the practice of medicine. He acts as a sounding board or "agony aunt" for the townspeople who rely on his sound judgment; he also aspires to run for mayor as an independent so that he can fight for needed reforms. Inspector Ben Costello is a local policeman who takes charge of an investigation into a man's death that could possibility be a homicide, but might just as easily be ruled accidental. Although this case is outside Charlie's jurisdiction, he and Felicity decide to make discreet inquiries of their own. The lives of these and other people ultimately intersect in unexpected ways, and although there is some closure at the end, some key questions remain unanswered. In his understated way, Barnard shows that evil, selfishness, and altruism can and do exist side by side, and the search for justice often proves to be elusive. Fortunately, good and decent men and women like Charlie and Felicity Peace are willing to stick their necks out to dig underneath the surface and uncover the truth.

Inspector Charlie Peace and his pregnant wife Felicity leave London for nearby Slepton Edge so that their children can be raised in a safe harmonies atmosphere. To Felicity's chagrin, her narcissistic romance writer Rupert Coggenhoe joins them allegedly to be near his future grandchild; though his daughter doubts his seemingly pure motive. She and her spouse soon learn the truth why Rupert chose to rusticate in suburbia as rumors abound of an illicit relationship from his hedonistic past that is about to explode back in London. Though wary of her dad, Felicity believes he would never harm her, her unborn or her husband; his sin is that of a selfish egomaniac. Rupert needs diversion and finds it with sexy, scheming teenage Anne Michaels, who enjoys blackmail and aggravating outsiders of her drama club of teen felons. Murder shakes up the new and old townsfolk; Charlie unofficially investigates since his father-in-law who teamed up with his "Lolita" is a prime suspect. In his eighth police procedural (though FALL FROM GRACE is not an official police procedural), Charlie seeks peace at home as his wife struggles with her father moving into suburbia with them. The story line is fast-paced with a fascinating look at the not so innocence of children who can prove quite destructive. Although the key bus scene puts somewhat a brake on this fine thriller Charlie's investigation into uncovering a killer while he learns more (probably than he wants) about his wife and father-in-law and that makes for a delightful caper. Harriet Klausner